Take My Hand | Peter Parker

Chapter 1

Moving to New York was one of the hardest challenges life threw at me. I mean, it was my decision, but the farther apart from the place you love, the harder the pain. Why did I do this exactly? For starters, I've always wanted to visit New York City.

Although it is pretty busy, that doesn't stop me from admiring the city's beauty.

The new school I'm going to be attending is a very technology/science based school, which is a field I want a career based on one day.

Another challenge was being all by myself. Luckily, an old friend of my Mom's lives right near Midtown, the school I want to go to. She has two daughters, and a son who lives out of the country. One of her daughters, Nora, attends Midtown. Nora and I used to play together all the time when we were younger. She's the oldest, and the same age as me. I felt so relieved, knowing that I wasn't going to be completely alone in this.

"Hey, Aunt Rebecca!" I smile, and give her a hug.

I call Nora's mom Aunt Rebecca because of her close bond with my family, like an aunt. I continued to haul in a few boxes from my family's van.

"Hi, sweetie! How was the trip?" She asks me, then greets my Mom.

"It was really fun. I'm already so excited to be here,"

The temperature was quite hot outside, due to it being summer. In one week school would start up, and I had to be ready. I knew those plans would have to wait when I saw Nora and her younger sister, Ellie, coming from the backyard to greet us. Nora smiles and hugs me.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in, like... forever!" She gushes, while Ellie greets the rest of my family.

My family supports me with my choice to move to New York City. I wanted this education, and they knew I was too stubborn to change my mind.

"Listen, we have a lot of catching up to do." I grab my backpack from the car and run back to her. "It's been way too long and we've both changed so much. I'd be pretty lucky if I remembered your middle name,"

We both laugh at what I say. It was true, I we hadn't seen each other since we were kids. I started to realize how much our personalities had changed as we spoke. Nora learned how to play the clarinet and joined the band at her school. She also told me about how her family recently moved into this house, and showed me their dog they got in early June.

"Her name is Angel, and she rarely barks." Nora carried a small golden retriever in her arms.

I pet her softly, afraid she would bite me. There was something about dogs that I never completely trusted. However, I did like cats, but just never had one. Angel snagged her paw at my hand, and with my quick reflexes, I swiped my hand away from her fur.

"Sorry, I forgot you were afraid of dogs," Nora shows Angel to my siblings.

"It's alright... I'll get used to having her around." I smile, admiring Angel.

Aunt Rebecca invited my family over for dinner. We sat at a beautiful picnic table in the backyard with hanging lights decorating the wooden posts. I couldn't help but watch as my own sister immediately bonded with Ellie. It was as if no time had passed since they last saw each other.

I planned on staying the night here, just to get a feel of what it would be like. In three days, my family would head back home and I would begin this journey by myself.

Nora's room was a decent size, and that's where I planned on staying. We both begged our parents to be roommates, and believe me, that took a fair amount of convincing on both our parts. Ellie had her own room, but Aunt Rebecca reasoned that they should be separated before they start attending high school together.

"So, tell me what it was like to go to high school in Canada," Nora inquires.

"Well, what can I say? It's pretty much the same as it is here."

"Did you guys use polar bears to get to school?" She asks, getting excited.

I threw a pillow at her jokingly. "No! It's not that cold everywhere in Canada!"

Before they moved to the US, we would see each other all the time. Their move greatly impacted our relationship with them. It wasn't until recently that our parents had got in touch, and Aunt Rebecca said that we should visit.

"Well, I guess so, but my friend Ned says so. He's really into Star Wars, oh, and so is Peter. Sometimes we get together to watch movies."

I smiled. "That sounds awesome. Who are your friends?"

"Well," she ponders, "There's Peter and Ned, who I mentioned. Ned is really, really into Star Wars, and Peter is a cute little nerd, in my opinion. Then my best friend Michelle, and we call her MJ. I'm also friends with Liz, one of the seniors at school. And,"

She pauses for dramatic effect, "And you! You'll be my new best friend."

Nora gave me a tour of her room, showing me the most important places and details to remember. She specifically told me to keep in mind where all the candy and chocolate was stashed in her room.

"Okay, let's review. Where are the Reese's Pieces?"

I glanced over at the closet. "In your closet, top left hand side on the rack."

"Gummy worms?"

"Under your bed, to the far right."

She pauses for a moment, thinking of how to proceed.

"And the tootsie rolls?"

I was paying attention to know she didn't have any. "Trick question. You don't buy them."

She claps her hands together, then goes to the closet and tosses me a snicker bar.

"Very good. I think that's all you need to know for day one."

We burst out into laughter, knowing how ridiculous it was to take that seriously. I knew right then and there we were going to be good friends.

When Aunt Rebecca said goodnight to us, I couldn't have felt more accepted by her family. I just wanted to go to Midtown so badly, and meet Nora's friends. From the way she described them, I knew they were good people. Guess I'll just have to wait until Tuesday to find out.